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| T/Sgt. Donald Hansen was killed on the final day of the Battle of Kwajalein. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/63967657/donald-gordon-hansen http://sciencepole.com/battle-of-kwajalein/ |
Donald Gordon Hansen never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on April 27, 1918 in Montana. His parents Hans and Marie were born in Denmark and Norway, respectively. They had three other children, one girl and two boys. They moved to California in the 1920's. Donald completed three years of high school.
Donald joined the California National Guard in 1937 and became part of the regular army on March 3, 1941. He was 6'3" but weighed only 154 pounds. He was a tech sergeant in Company G, 2nd Battalion, 184th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division.
The 184th IR joined the 7th ID in mid-1943. Along with the 4th Marine Division, the 7th Infantry Division landed on Kwajalein Atoll on January 31, 1944, the next stop on the planned island hopping to Japan.
Sgt. Hansen died on February 3, 1944, the fourth and final day of the battle, due to enemy fire. The 7th ID lost 176 men KIA in taking Kwajalein, relatively light casualties compared to what would happen later at Leyte and Okinawa.
His grave is at Chico Cemetery in Chico, California.
Last year on this date I profiled Keith Garvie, killed while fighting the Japanese in Alaska. You can read about Keith here.
On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!
I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100
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